Whatever He Wants (34 page)

 
     
“You sound like a goddamn woman. What are
we supposed to do? Sit here and talk about our feelings? I’ve thought of you as
many things but a damn pussy wasn’t one of them.”

 
     
James bit the inside of his lip to stop
himself from retaliating in kind. James recognized David’s petulant façade for
what it was: a cover for his pain. James had carried his own hurt around for so
long he could see David was suffering too. James took a measured breath to calm
down before replying. “If wanting to clear the air makes me a pussy then so be
it. If you have nothing to say, I have plenty.”

 
     
David shrugged. “It’s not like I can stop
you.” He moved from behind the bar and headed to a large bay window in the
corner presenting his back to James.

 
     
“David, for a very long time I blamed you
and anyone who bore the name Alexander for anything that went wrong in my life.
I blamed our father for casting my mother aside and essentially turning her
into a drug addict. I hated you for all the torture I suffered through in
school, and I was jealous when Gillian dumped me for you. What really sent me
over the edge was Grandpa Lou’s death. I held the old man personally
responsible for that one. That changed me.”

 
     
“Well, I guess you’ll have the last laugh
then,” David spoke in a tone devoid of emotion.

 
     
“No. I haven’t laughed in a long time,
actually. I always imagined seeing the downfall of this family would make me
happy but it hasn’t. Whether you believe it or not, I didn’t have a hand in
AlCore’s
failure.”

 
     
“Gillian said you bragged about ending the
contract between
AlCore
and Rothschild Holdings.”

 
     
“I think we both know Gillian has trouble
with the truth. I did say things I shouldn’t have to her but I don’t make my
business decisions based on emotion. One of the hotels my group acquired already
had a contract in place with
AlCore
, but the only
reason we didn’t renew it was because I already had a vendor in place that was
more cost effective and produced a higher quality product. That’s it.”

 
     
“So you’re basically saying you didn’t
dance for joy when you heard of
AlCore’s
troubles.
How noble of you.”

 
     
“David, I’m human, so of course my initial
reaction was to gloat but when it was all said and done I wasn’t happy. My
focus was to be accepted by the people who used to reject me. I turned into the
people I used to despise and I ended up hurting someone important to me. I
don’t want to be that person anymore. I just want you to know, if you need my
help for anything, you have it. No strings attached.”

 
     
David without turning around, placed his
now empty glass on a nearby end table and slow clapped. “Brava. All we need now
is some sappy orchestra music as this scene fades to black.”

 
     
“David—”

 
     
His brother turned then with red-rimmed
eyes. “What exactly did you expect me to say after that? Let’s be brothers?
Let’s start over again and be chums? If you’ve come here to appease your guilty
conscience then fuck you. Go to a priest because you’ll get no absolution from
me.”

 
     
James stood with a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry
you feel that way. I’ll leave my card on the table for you to call me.”

 
     
As James headed to the door he was stopped
when David called out. “Yeah, now you can go behind my back and laugh at what a
pathetic state you found me in. I’m sure you’ll sleep better tonight because of
that sanctimonious little speech. You act like your world was so terrible but
you got a free education at one of the best schools and have women throwing
themselves at your feet. Now you’re a billionaire. Boo
freakin
’
hoo
,
life was so hard, wasn’t it? Even now you sit on your high horse and tell me we
treated you like shit, yet you forgive me?
Who the fuck do
you think you are?”

 
     
James silently counted to ten to keep
himself from saying something equally crass but his temper got the best of him.
He whirled around and answered, “I never asked for my education to be paid, but
do you honestly think it was free? Do you have any idea what he wanted in
exchange for that
free
education? No,
you probably don’t because you’re the precious heir.”

 
     
“Are you kidding me? I know exactly what
that bastard wanted. It’s the same thing he wanted from me and any other little
boy who caught his eye.”

 
     
James stilled. “He did it to you too? I
thought….”

 
     
“Of course he did. He’s been doing it for
years. What? Did you think you were special? Why do you think dear old Dad took
the easy way out?” David laughed almost maniacally.

 
     
“What are you talking about?”

 
     
“You didn’t think our father died of
natural causes do you? The old man did the same thing to him as he did to me
and you apparently. Why do you think this family is so fucked up?”

 
     
Shortly after the funeral, James had
learned
the old man who’d called him a bastard was his
paternal grandfather, Sheldon Alexander, head of
AlCore
.
The second time James had seen Sheldon was at the reading of the will. He
remembered sitting outside of the lawyer’s office waiting for his mother to
come out. When she finally stormed out of the room she had been furious
. 

 
     
 
“I can’t fucking
believe he left me out of the will. And all you got was tuition to that
snooty-ass school. Too bad you’re not going just so you can walk around the
house thinking you’re better than me. Come on.” She grabbed his arm roughly.

 
     
Just
then, the old man came out of the office. “I would think you’d want your child
to have a proper education, although in my opinion, Stephen was foolish for
leaving this little bastard anything. With you for a mother and that uneducated
buffoon for a grandfather, I can already see he’ll end up exactly like you.
A big fat zero.
Just don’t come knocking on our door for any
more handouts.”

 
     
James
could see the distress on his mother’s face and though she was rarely nice to
him, she was still his mother and he still loved her even if she didn’t
reciprocate. “You shut up!” James shouted. “Don’t be mean to my mom. You’re a
big jerk.”

 
     
“Jamie,
be quiet,” his mother hissed and pinched his arm.

 
     
James
rubbed the inflamed skin his mother injured as he glared up at the old man.

 
     
The
old man chuckled. “Well, at least you have some spunk. Young man, nothing in
the world is free and one day you’ll have to pay the piper.”

 
     
“Sheldon,
can’t we get out of here? I’m getting dizzy by the smell of cheap perfume.
Haven’t I suffered enough by being in the same room with my husband’s
paramour?” said the blonde standing by the old man’s side.

 
     
“In a second, Cassandra.”
He focused his attention back to James’s mother. “And just so you know, if you
come begging for money again, that free ride your son is getting will cease. I
don’t care what’s in my son’s will. I will contest it and have it tied up in
court for years and for no other reason than because I can. Good day to you.”
The way he said it made it clear he didn’t mean it.

 
     
His
father had left James a modest trust specifically to pay for James’ elementary
through high school education at the prestigious private academy all the
Alexanders
had attended.  That so-called gift left by
his father turned out to be a living nightmare and James found out the meaning
of “nothing in life being for free”. It wasn’t the last time he’d have a run-in
with the old man. But he wished to God it had been.

 
     
“It was only one time,” James whispered,
almost shaking at a memory he’d desperately tried to suppress. “I thought he’d
done it because…because he wanted to humiliate me. He denied my existence in
public so what better way to show me I meant absolutely nothing to him. I just
wanted…” Remembering how he’d felt as those cold hands fondled and violated
him, and how Sheldon had pushed James against the wall. James had struggled all
while that old bastard laughed and told him nothing in the world was free.

 
     
“Just once?
You
got off easy then. Try once a week. And get this; he said he was doing it to
make me a man.
To make me strong.
I actually made the
mistake of telling my mother once, but she smacked me across the face and told
me not to say those things out loud. Not because she thought I was lying, you
see. She just didn’t want to hear it. I’m sure my father might have mentioned
something to her in his drunken ramblings, but my mother has a way of blocking
out all things that aren’t about her.”

 
     
He hadn’t realized David had suffered too,
and probably more than James had. “I had no idea. I wish I would have known
or…well, we weren’t exactly friends in school were we? We hated each other. You
went out of your way to make me miserable, but I guess if I would have known—”

 
     
“You would have done nothing. There wasn’t
anything you could do and me for that matter. And I hated him and you. He may
not have acknowledged you in public but he kept tabs on you. According to him
you did everything right, from those stellar grades to how well you did at
sports. He loved to point out how well my bastard brother was doing. Even when
you became this great success he told me I wasn’t half the man you are. I could
do no right in his eyes, and you know what he said to me?”

 
     
It made James’ skin crawl to know the old
man had had him monitored. “What?”

 
     
“On more than one occasion he told me he
wished I was the illegitimate one and you were the heir. At least then he’d
have a grandson to be proud of. And when he wasn’t abusing me with his dick, he
was doing it with his fists because I wasn’t you! So yes I hated you. I hated
everything about you. You didn’t have to deal with that asshole and you still
managed to outshine me in his eyes.” David picked up the glass off the table
and hurled it across the room. It shattered against the wall into tiny pieces.
James was speechless but David wasn’t with finished his tirade.

 
     
 
“That’s why I made things difficult for you. But
somehow you kept coming out on top.
Except with Gillian.
She was the one thing I got over you but that was thanks to her greed. But the
joke was still on me, wasn’t it? I actually ended up falling for the greedy
bitch. And let’s get one thing straight here: it was Gillian’s idea to see you.
I didn’t send her. She did that on her own accord thinking you’d bail us out. I
only went to you in a last ditch effort to save my marriage. Gillian was on my
case about seeing you so I caved in and made an appointment with you. I didn’t
have a business proposal as you pointed out because I never intended for you to
save
AlCore
. I only wanted to give the appearance to
Gillian that I was fighting for the company’s life.”

 
     
“I’m not sure I follow. If you didn’t want
to save the company you could have lied to her about meeting me.”

 
     
“I didn’t want to leave it to chance for
Gillian to find out I didn’t.”

 
     
“Then why did you get so upset with me
when I told you no. And why don’t you want to save
AlCore
?”

 
     
“Because I still resent the hell out of
you and I got angry. As for
AlCore
, I want to see
everything that old bastard work for crumble to the ground. After that boating
accident that left him incapacitated he had no choice but to give me the reins.
I could have done a great job running the company, but even from a wheelchair
he tormented to me to the point where I just said fuck it. I didn’t want any of
it anymore. I’ve systematically set out to destroy that company and since I
have the controlling shares, no one has been able to stop me.”